Two years after the Giants passed on J.J. McCarthy in the draft, the quarterback is headed to New York anyway.
The Giants agreed to a trade with the Minnesota Vikings on Monday to add McCarthy, sending a 2027 fifth-round pick back in return. The move comes after the Giants lost Jaxson Dart to what turned out to be a season-ending knee injury early in their Week 2 game against the Los Angeles Rams. Jameis Winston is now the starter, and head coach John Harbaugh made clear the team was planning to add another quarterback.
That path brings the Giants right back to a player they were strongly connected to during the 2024 NFL Draft process.
At the time, New York held the sixth overall pick and was looking for a quarterback to replace Daniel Jones. Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye were expected to be gone before the Giants came on the clock, which left McCarthy in the mix. SNY’s Connor Hughes reported there was buzz McCarthy might have been the Giants’ preferred choice in the first round, and McCarthy later said on The Rich Eisen Show that he spent the most time with the Giants during the pre-draft process.
The noise was loud enough that some believed the Giants could bypass one of the top non-quarterback prospects for him. Instead, they took Malik Nabers at No.
- McCarthy went to the Vikings four picks later.
At the time, Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen believed Nabers was the better fit and that moving forward with Jones at quarterback was their plan.
Now, Nabers and McCarthy are teammates in New York.
The Giants are betting on upside rather than a safer veteran option. McCarthy’s pro résumé has been uneven, and his stint under Kevin O’Connell didn’t help his case. O’Connell is widely regarded as one of the league’s better quarterback developers, which only sharpens the scrutiny around McCarthy’s numbers.
In 10 games as Minnesota’s starter last season, McCarthy completed 57.6 percent of his passes for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also went 6-4 as the starter.
The Vikings entered this offseason with Kyler Murray in the mix to compete with McCarthy for the starting job, but the battle didn’t last long. Murray was named the starter quickly, and McCarthy slid all the way to third string. A trade always felt inevitable.
For the Giants, McCarthy arrives as Winston’s backup, but he could be called on if needed. If that happens, he would be working in the same RPO structure Dart was running, though the Giants are expected to lean on the run game, just as McCarthy did at Michigan.
Two years after the Giants let him pass by, McCarthy is finally in blue.
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